


The Price of Freedom

by TheCookieAlchemist



Series: Jocelyn Amell: The Hero of Ferelden [5]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22291891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCookieAlchemist/pseuds/TheCookieAlchemist
Summary: Jocelyn Amell and Anders discuss what it might take to achieve their shared goal of freedom for mages.
Relationships: Anders & Female Warden
Series: Jocelyn Amell: The Hero of Ferelden [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607674
Kudos: 2





	The Price of Freedom

_ So this is it,  _ Jocelyn thought. The home of the famous Champion of Kirkwall. When she arrived in the city, this “Hawke” seemed to be the talk of pretty much everyone. And even though she wasn’t the person Jocelyn had come to see, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d get to meet her. 

Jocelyn went to knock on the door, but hesitated when she did. Anders had run away from the Wardens for a reason. Would he really want to talk to her? 

_ He needs to explain himself. I want to know why he did it.  _

A familiar dwarf opened the door. “I’m sorry, but Serah Hawke isn’t...Joss?” 

“Bodahn!” Jocelyn exclaimed. “It’s good to see you! What are you doing here?” 

“My boy and I have come into the service of Serah Hawke,” Bodahn explained. “She’s a remarkable woman. The things she gets up too...reminds me of you, a little bit. But I don’t think she has the time to become a Warden.” 

“I’m not here for Hawke. I’m here for Anders. I heard he was living here now,” Jocelyn said. “Is he here?” 

“He is, but he’s not in the best shape. And I don’t think he wants to see you,” Bodahn said. 

“I’m not here to drag him back to the Wardens. I just want to talk to him. We were friends once. I just want to know...” Jocelyn began. 

“Well, I suppose there’s no harm in that. Come on in, I’ll get him for you.” Bodahn led her into the main hall of the Hawke estate.  _ A fine house, to be sure,  _ Jocelyn thought, looking around at the huge room. It was the last place she would have expected to find a runaway Grey Warden, and an apostate to boot. 

“Never thought I’d see you again,” a voice said from the stairs. Jocelyn looked over to see Anders, but he wasn’t exactly the Anders she had known. He looked older, more tired now. And far more intense than he had ever been in the Wardens. She could practically feel his anger. 

“I could say the same of you,” Jocelyn said. 

“I’m not going back to the Wardens, Commander,” Anders said. 

“I didn’t expect you would,” Jocelyn said sadly. “And I’m not here to drag you back. I just want an explanation.” 

“Of what? Here to catch up with an old friend? If you wanted to hear from me so bad, you could have written a letter.” 

“You know exactly what I want explained!” Jocelyn snapped, glaring at him. “Why did you merge with Justice? Why did you run from the Wardens? Why did you kill all those people?” She sighed. “I thought you were happy with us.” 

“You know exactly why I did all those things,” Anders snapped back. “The Templars were breathing down my neck, even with your protection. The other Wardens thought I was too soft. Justice wasn’t going to last much longer in that rotting corpse. And where were you during all this, Commander? Galavanting around Thedas with your little Chantry sister.” 

“Don’t talk about Leliana that way!” Jocelyn snapped. “And do you really think I wanted all those Templars there? I hate them as much as you do. In fact, I sent them away the minute I returned to Vigil’s Keep, at the cost of the Chantry’s good will towards the Wardens, may I add. I want an explanation.” 

“Do you want an explanation? Fine, here you go,” Anders began. “The Circle of Magi is unjust. I know it, Justice knows it, and you know it too. Look at Hawke. Her family spent years on the run for the horrible crime of not wanting her sister thrown into a glorified prison. They locked me up for a year and tried to drag me back over your head, and they were going to punish you for something that wasn’t your fault! Justice and I talked. We wanted change, we wanted to stop the Chantry from taking away our freedom and treating us like monsters. You understand that, don’t you?” 

Jocelyn sighed. “I do,” she said, looking at Anders. He looked like he was desperately trying to hold back his anger, to keep something from coming out. “How the Chantry treats us is wrong, and I don’t blame you for wanting to change things. I just wish that you hadn’t killed those people.” 

“Do you remember what you said to Wynne when we were in Amaranthine? About not forcing change?” Anders asked, looking into her eyes. 

“I said that if we didn’t force change, than it would never come,” Jocelyn said. And she had meant it. She remembered what Duncan had told her all those years ago. Grey Wardens do whatever they could to end the Blight and force back the darkspawn. Even if that means doing horrible things. Jocelyn herself had spared the Architect, hoping he could hold back the darkspawn. Surely Anders, with his own actions, was no worse than she was?  _ He’s just doing what he thinks is right. If I were him, I might just do the same thing.  _

“However bad you think the Templars are in Ferelden, they’re a thousand times worse here in Kirkwall. The Gallows is a nightmare for mages. They’re confined to their cells, beaten, abused, and punished for the slightest infractions. Knight-Commander Meredith is insane, and she hates mages more than anything else. She’s not even following the Chantry’s rules anymore.” 

“What do you mean, Anders?” Jocelyn asked, hesitant. She wondered what could possibly be worse than what he had just told her. 

“She and the other Templars are making mages Tranquil against their will. Mages who have passed their Harrowing. And the reasons they’re doing it...they’re anything but benevolent. One of them, Sir Alrik, proposed a “Tranquil solution”. He wanted to turn us all into drooling slaves for the Templars’ amusement.” 

Jocelyn knew exactly what he meant. “Those bastards!” she exclaimed, slamming her staff into the ground. A loud boom echoed through the estate. “Where is this Sir Alrik? I’ll kill him myself if I have to.” 

“He’s dead. Hawke and I took care of that,” Anders said. Jocelyn breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Make sure you thank Hawke for me when you see her,” Jocelyn said. “Still, how could the Chantry just let all of this happen? They must know that Meredith is insane. Why not just dismiss her?” 

“Grand Cleric Elthina is a doddering, indecisive old bat,” Anders answered. “Hawke and I have tried talking to her more times than I can count, and she always just brushes off the problem and says that things aren’t as bad as they seem. She even seems to blame the mages for being part of the problem.” 

“Ugh. Typical Chantry bullshit, I see,” Jocelyn said. “But what about the leaders of the city? Couldn’t they do something?” 

“What leaders? The Viscount and his son were killed in the Qunari invasion, and Meredith seems determined to stop someone from replacing them. She’s the leader of the city in all but name, and with every scrap of resistance she faces, her grip gets tighter,” Anders said grimly. 

“So there’s no peaceful solution to any of this?” Jocelyn asked, frustrated. 

“If there ever was one, it died with the Viscount,” Anders said. “The time is coming for drastic action, Joss. The time to “force change” as you said.” His voice seemed to deepen, and he even seemed to glow a little. He took a few breaths, trying to steady himself. 

“Why wait?” Jocelyn said. “What’s stopping you?” 

“Hawke is,” Anders sighed. His voice softened a bit. “She’s the one person preventing me from breaking down the Gallows myself. And she’s lost enough. She doesn’t need to lose me too.” 

“You...care about her, don’t you?” Jocelyn asked. 

“I love her,” Anders replied. “And I don’t want to lose her. You know what that feels like, don’t you?”

“I’d do anything for Leliana,” Jocelyn said, smiling a bit. “I suppose you feel the same for Hawke.”

Anders nodded. “Well, you’ve gotten your explanation,” he said. “I don’t suppose you’re staying.” 

“I need to return to Vigil’s Keep,” Jocelyn said. “I wish I could stay and help here, but there’s some new recruits coming in and I’ll need to put them through the Joining. Maker knows we still need more Wardens in Ferelden.” 

“Then I suppose this is farewell,” Anders said. 

“As do I,” Jocelyn said back. “Thank you for explaining everything. Goodbye, Anders.” She turned to walk out the door. 

“Joss?” Anders began. She turned around, startled at the sound of her name. 

“Yes?” She asked. 

“If you had to do something horrible to save people, something that could make you lose everything...what would you do?” 

“I’m...not sure I can answer that,” Jocelyn said. “I suppose that depended on who I was trying to save, and what I had to lose if I didn’t.” Thoughts came to her mind. A dark ritual in the dead of night. A city on fire. The Architect, disappearing into the Deep Roads. “But I can’t say I’ve never done bad things in the name of saving people.” 

“That’s not much of an answer,” Anders said, frustrated. 

“It’s something you have to decide for yourself,” Jocelyn said. “But sometimes, the best outcome comes from the worst path.” 


End file.
